Are you a lottery dupe?

[Bonefishblues]

Who are the controlling hands behind the conspiracy?

We should be told.

Politicians legislate the way for big bumper win gambling, but their "controlling hands" could be controlled by strings pulled by a shadowy league of backroom oligarchs.

Do you have any ideas who the shadowy league comprises? Or is it more around political lobbying, which I do understand?

[Bonefishblues]

Debs for Empress!

I would settle for a million max, the media like to cook up hysteria over rollovers and big jackpots, that is the problem

Remember when the lottery was introduced under the Major regierme, there was a lot of criticism

It would be fun to win much more and be the new Bill Gates but I would prefer a quiet life

I used to play it decades ago, helped keep me going, won 30 pounds once I think

Lottery jackpots, other than the truly exceptional don't merit a mention by the media, and haven't for decades, never mind their cooking up hysteria. What have you been reading?

[Debs]

Do you have any ideas who the shadowy league comprises?

Does anyone know (?) don't forget they are a shadowy League,
and powerfully wealthy,
and they hang around in backrooms.

[Bonefishblues]

Do you have any ideas who the shadowy league comprises?

Does anyone know (?) don't forget they are a shadowy League,
and powerfully wealthy,
and they hang around in backrooms.

You seem very certain about their existence, hence the question.

[Cyril Haearn]

Debs for Empress!

I would settle for a million max, the media like to cook up hysteria over rollovers and big jackpots, that is the problem

Remember when the lottery was introduced under the Major regierme, there was a lot of criticism

It would be fun to win much more and be the new Bill Gates but I would prefer a quiet life

I used to play it decades ago, helped keep me going, won 30 pounds once I think

Lottery jackpots, other than the truly exceptional don't merit a mention by the media, and haven't for decades, never mind their cooking up hysteria. What have you been reading?

El Gordo in Spain, €*%+) & #! Might have been a few years ago, maybe the people are a bit crazier down there

[661-Pete]

Jackpots, eh? Not my scene, but I note that amongst the DVDs on our shelves is one of Jack Rosenthal's TV drama Spend Spend Spend - which is based on the dismal and depressing true-life story of a family of Football Pools winners back in the 1960s. Perhaps I should stick it in the player and watch it again. Indeed, perhaps it should be required viewing for anyone who's dithering about Lotto'ing....

[661-Pete]

And a further development:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... ted-report
So it now emerges that the Gov's decision to delay the clampdown on gambling machines was based on a wholly discredited reported commissioned by the gambling industry...

So the decision was to protect "between 15,000 and 21,000 jobs" was it? Gambling industry jobs before addicts' lives and livelihoods?

Well ... by a similar argument, should the Gov ease back from any clampdown on dealing in heroin, crack cocaine, fentanyl, spice, etc. etc.? On the grounds that this could cost "between 15,000 and 21,000" drug pushers' jobs?

How more corrupt has this Gov. got to get, before people stand up and say, enough is enough?

[Bonefishblues]

One can argue about the numbers, but here's the scoop. Rightly or wrongly, these machines represent the difference between many shops staying open or not. There simply is no fat left to trim. Single manning is now norm, not the exception. Traditional over the counter betting has been in steady decline for many years.

To make a comparison with drug pushers is to diminish the argument being put forward.

[661-Pete]

I would reply to that, it makes people take notice of the argument! If anyone feels offended, sorry! Sometimes a stark comparison is the only way...

[Bonefishblues]

Stark vs wholly inappropriate are different things though, no matter how passionately one feels about the subject matter.

Presumably you might also on occasion feel some regret about how the tabloid newspapers sensationalise serious matters?